


The Hole

by stargatefan_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Gen, Missing Scene, Smarm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-09-07
Updated: 2004-09-07
Packaged: 2018-10-07 11:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10359312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargatefan_archivist/pseuds/stargatefan_archivist
Summary: Spoilers: "A Matter of Time", "Need", "Prisoners"Summary: Daniel does some long hard thinking over the consequences of hissarcophagus addiction and his actions.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Yuma, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [Stargatefan.com](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Stargatefan.com). To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [StargateFan Archive Collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/StargateFan_Archive_Collection).

Stargate SG-1 Fanfiction - The Hole

##  The Hole (#11 of the Radio Series)

##### Written by OXBastetXO  
Comments? Write to us at OXBastetXO@aol.com 

  * SPOILERS : Need, Prisoners, A Matter of Time 
  * SUMMARY : Daniel does some long hard thinking over the consequences of his sarcophagus addiction and his actions. 
  * PG-13 [A] [S] [M]



* * *

Daniel cautiously pushed open the door to the break room and peered into the room. Empty. He sighed and shuffled in, pulling the door shut behind him. He gave the coffeepot a longing look before fishing in his pocket for some change. 

No caffeine. No alcohol. Nothing too acidic. Nothing too spicy. Daniel rattled the list off in his head of the restrictions Janet put him on while he fed the coins into the soda machine. Not that it had really been much of a big deal; he hadn't really been hungry anyway. 

Who was he kidding? He was a mess. He knew that. He had screwed up so bad, he would be lucky if Hammond let him stay on in an advisory possession, forget about being on a team. Sg-1 was definitely out of the question. They would never trust him again. He couldn't blame them. He didn't trust himself any more. Jack would never forgive him for letting the team down so badly, and he couldn't forgive himself. 

Daniel pushed the button on the machine and a ginger ale plunked into the slot. He sighed and rested his forehead against the cool plastic face of the machine. It felt good against his hot face. Janet said he was still running low-grade fever, probably would for a few more days as his systems readjusted themselves. She had just let him out of the infirmary for a few hours to stretch his legs. He just wanted to go home. Go home and hide. A bitter chuckle slipped out, why did he think he was here? Barely anyone used this break room. Half the time the vending machine was empty and the other half the stuff in it was so old they nearly classified as new lifeform. 

Daniel took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He frowned as a new sound caught his attention. 

'Please, just go away. I can't deal with having to talk to somebody right now,' he thought looking over his shoulder. 

His shoulders sagged in relief when he realized it was just the little radio over on the counter. A new song had started up replacing the one that had been playing. A rich, bass voice cut through the confusion wrapping itself round his brain and he focused on it. 

_  
_

A friend of mine bought himself a shovel __  
Said: "I'm gonna tunnel me a mine" __  
He set out to be a rich man __  
Happiness is what he thought he'd find __  
Got in too deep to see the diamonds __  
Down too dark to see the gold __  
Now he won't let go of the shovel _  
And he can't dig out of the hole_

Daniel slowly woke up to the sound of grinding metal and stone. He knew that sound. He had heard it before, somewhere. He opened his eyes and frowned. This was not the mine. He had just been in the mine, hadn't he? 

He slowly sat up and realized what he had been lying in. A Goa'uld sarcophagus. 

"Do you feel better?" Daniel turned his head as the sound of the voice and recognized it as the princess he had saved on the cliff top. 

He licked his dry lips trying to make some sense out of what he was seeing. "What's going on?" he finally managed. 

"You tried to escape. You were badly wounded," the Princess softly. 

"My friends?" Daniel asked, looking around any sign of Jack, Sam, or Teal'c. Panic flooded through him, they couldn't be… 

"They were recaptured." 

Daniel let out a sigh of relief, at least that meant they were alive. 

The princess looked down, clasping her hands. "By what name are you called?" 

"Daniel Jackson." His mind flooded with a thousand questions and he tried to put his jumble thoughts in to some kind of coherent order. He rested his hands on the sides of sarcophagus. 

The Princess walked over to him and extended her hand. "May I help you out, Daniel Jackson?" 

Daniel got to his feet and reached out for her hand. He stepped over the side of sarcophagus and hopped down to the flagstone floor trying to keep the edges of some kind of robe he was wearing out from under his feet. She led him down the steps surround the sarcophagus to the main floor. "Thank you," he said, holding up the edge of the robe to keep it from tangling he legs. He fingered the fine material and looked up at her. "Um, why am I wearing this?" 

"I took the liberty of provide you with royal robes. You may call me Shyla," the Princess smiled and continued. "In return for saving your life, do not try to escape again. I have taken personal responsibility for you." 

Daniel brushed his hair back out of his eyes and nodded. "Ok." 

"It would also be rude to try and hurt me in anyway." 

"You do realize it is kind of rude to kidnap people and chain them up in a mine," Daniel said, interrupting her. This was all so surreal. One minute, he had been with the others down in the mine and now he was up here with a beautiful princess standing before him laying out house rules. 

The Princess had the decency to look embarrassed. "Please forgive me for not telling my father what happened at the cliff. I," she looked away for a moment. "He would not understand." 

"So," Daniel sighed trying to wrap him mind around what was happening. "You aren't Goa'uld, but you are running a naquada mine, and you've got yourselves a," Daniel rapped his knuckles on the gilded top of the sarcophagus, "Goa'uld sarcophagus." 

The Princess brightened." You know of the sarcophagus?" 

"Yeah, I've used one before," Daniel said tightly. "A couple of times too many, if you ask me." 

"Really?" The Princess was fairly beaming. Now that was a unique reaction. 

Daniel squinted at her and then motioned to his eyes. "My..uh-" 

"Oh, your glass circles," the Princess surmised and then walked over to some hidden alcove over by the dais. She walked back over cradling them in her hands. "I'm afraid they were broken." 

Daniel accepted them from her and slipped then back on his face. He tried to focus through the shattered right len. Better, but not much. 

The Princess giggled. He must look pretty comical with the broken glasses; Daniel thought wryly and smiled. 

The Princess smile softened "I just know I've done the right thing." She grabbed his and started pulling him out of the chamber. " Come, I must show you something." 

_  
_

Deeper and deeper he's goin' down __  
Driving his future right into the ground __  
He thinks he's closer the further he goes _  
But he's still on the bottom and he can't dig out of the hole_

Daniel glanced over at the two guards that shadowed him as the third led him down into the mines. This was ridiculous. He had to find some way to get the guys out of here. 

They rounded a bend in the mine and they come into sight. They looked awful. He had to get them out of here. He had to convince Pyrus to let them go. 

Not sure what else to say, he waved. "Hi guys!" 

Sam's grime cover face lit up. "Daniel!" 

Jack and Teal'c looked over, surprise etched almost as deeply as their exhaustion. 

"Surprisingly difficult to kill you, isn't it?" Jack chuckled, leaning wearily on his pick. 

A small smile curved the corner of Teal'c mouth. "We are pleased to see you, Daniel Jackson." 

Sam's expressive face filled with confusion. "What happened?" 

Daniel took a deep breath and tried to figure out the best way to explain this. He motioned over toward Sam. "Sam, was right, Pyrus isn't a Goa'uld." 

Jack gave him a once over and cocked his head. "What's with the dress?" 

Daniel blushed. "Oh, there royal robes." He played with the hem for a second and then pushed his glasses back up. "Long story short. They have a sarcophagus. The Princess put me in it and saved my life because she has a," he tried to find a way to put this that didn't sound so inane. "She has a crush on me." 

Sam's eyebrows shot up. "A crush?" 

"Actually, she thinks I'm her destiny." Sam looked at him and then turned toward Jack. He just shrugged. "The whole saving her life thing. I guess she was grateful after all." 

Jack glanced over at the guards. "Great. How about getting the goons to unlock our chain and getting us the heck out of here." 

"Uh, yeah." Daniel shifted uneasily. "Not yet." 

Jack stared at him. "I'm sorry?" 

Daniel looked down for a moment. "It's kind of sensitive situation. Pyrus hasn't exactly agreed to let you go yet." He quickly held up his hand to cut off any objections. "But I'm working on it. I'm trying to gain his trust." He could see the frustration mounting in Jack's face. Daniel wished he could just get them out now, but he couldn't. Not just yet. 

Daniel dropped his eyes again. "Look I know this is really-" 

"Weird," Jack interrupted. 

Daniel signed. "I just wanted to let you know that I was ok and that I will talk to Pyrus tonight, at dinner." 

"You get dinner?" The longing look on Sam's face stabbed Daniel to the heart. 

"Yeah, some feast in my honor," he answered tightly. 

"A feast!" Jack shot back. He looked over at Teal'c and Sam. "He gets a feast." 

Daniel brushed his hair back from his eyes. "Just trust me, ok? I just," he paused. "I need more time." 

He gave them one last look and turned. He had to get back. Shyla said he could have a moment with his friends, but he didn't want to push his luck. He didn't want to get them in any more trouble than they already were. He had to get them out and soon. If he could just convince Pyrus and Shyla they weren't a threat. They were friends. 

"Glad you're ok!" He heard Jack yell as they disappeared from sight. 

_  
_

I tried to throw the man a lifeline __  
I tried to send him down a rope __  
I don't think he hears me calling __  
But every day I pray and I hope __  
Somehow he finally gets the message __  
Every spade of dirt he throws __  
Only gets him closer to the devil _  
And he can't dig out of the hole_

Daniel strode down the shaft to the mine section where Jack and others were working. He had so much to tell them. So much had happened. They were going to be so excited. 

Jack looked up as he walked in. "What the heck is going on?" 

"It's been days since we've heard from you," Sam said with a tired frown. 

Daniel was momentarily surprised by their reaction. "Oh! Yeah…yeah…yeah! I'm sorry! Umm. . . I'm still working on getting you guys out." Why were they still hung up about that? He'd get that done. "In the meantime, I've discovered something incredible." 

Jack glared at him. "You do know that we are dying down here." 

Daniel ignored the jab; he was working on that. He turned to Sam, she would understand. "I've taken a little time to do some research on the sarcophagus. It's amazing what it does to you when you are already healthy." 

Sam looked up at him from where she was sitting on the floor. "Whoa, is that such a good idea?" 

"Well, I can't get Shyla to trust me if I don't trust her." Why were they being so dense? Couldn't they see what he was trying to do for them? 

"Shyla is it now. First name basis," Jack said. "Shyla," he repeated rolling the name around like he was trying to get the taste of it and from the look on his face, he didn't like it. 

"Hey, I've used it before without any side effects." How could he convince them? "Oh, look!" he said, pointing at his eyes. "No glasses!" 

Sam's frown deepened. "That looks like a side effect to me." 

Daniel glanced over at Teal'c, but concern was clouding the big man's face too. 

"Daniel, get us out of here," Jack said slowly. Daniel could hear the sharp edge to the man's voice. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah ...yeah." He tried to get his thought settle down. There was so much stirring in there right now. Things he had never considered before. So many things that had seemed so impossible just seemed to opening up in front of him begging him to get them done. He looked back at Jack. "I'm working on it. I just need a little more time." He tried to remember what he was going to tell them. "Oh, I sent General Hammond another message hoping he won't order an all out attack. 

"Look, if we do this right we'll get access to all the naquada and the sarcophagus." He looked over at Sam, biting his lip. They had to see how important this was now. 

"How many times have you used it?" Sam's eyes darkened as she asked the question. 

He shrugged. "Nine or ten." Daniel looked down at Sam. Of all them, she would understand. "Oh, Sam. Everything is so clear. I mean I feel like I could do...anything!" 

"One thing!" Jack snapped, the anger burning dark in his eyes. "You only have to do one thing! And if you can't handle that, we're going to break out of here without you." 

Daniel cocked his head. A sly smile creeping on his lips. "She want's me to marry her." 

Jack face exploded into a mask of confusion. "What?" He shook his head, running his grimy hands through his hair. "Ok, look-" 

Anger exploded in a red haze in Daniel's mind. "No! You look, Jack!" he shot back, stabbing his finger at the man. "I have got everything under control!" He turned away. "You never show me any respect!" He rested his hands on his hips. "Your way didn't work, now I'm handling it. Al l you guys have to do is hang in there." 

He should have known better. Why did he think they would understand? Why did he think Jack would understand? Who was he fooling? Jack never understood. He never cared. 

Daniel spun on his heel and stalked out of the mine. 

_  
_

Deeper and deeper he's goin' down __  
Driving his future right into the ground __  
He thinks he's closer the further he goes _  
But he's still on the bottom and he can't dig out of the hole_

Daniel stood by the balcony looking out over the valley. He could hear Shyla talking to her father as she helped him in to the sarcophagus. The old man's breath wheezed through the ancient lungs. It was only a matter of time now. 

He heard the soft patter of Shyla's feet as she came over to where he stood. Daniel spared a glance back at her. "How's he doing?" 

"The sarcophagus does not make him better the way it use to," she said sadly. "Soon it will be time for me to become queen." Daniel could hear the hesitation in her voice. 

He looked over at her. "Would that be so bad?" 

Shyla let out a bitter chuckle that sound almost like a sob. "You do not approve of my father's ways." 

"I can help make it much easier to mine the naquada and we can defend you against the Goa'uld, if you trust me." 

Shyla's voice grew quieter. "Even after I used your friend to keep you close to me?" 

Daniel rolled eyes. This again. He sighed. "I don't think you meant any harm." 

Jack might hate him, but Jack didn't realize how important this was. None of them realized how important this was. 

"Then you will stay? Even after they are free?" Shyla asked sidling up beside him. Her arms reached for him. 

Daniel tossed his head back, his hair slid back out of his eyes. "I've never felt better anywhere in my life." Daniel took a deep breath; even his allergies were gone. No glasses, no allergies. Got to love that sarcophagus. 

He looked back at Shyla. "I've always felt out of place on my planet. I wanted to make a difference." His eyes narrowed. "There's still so much you don't know about me." 

Shyla pulled him close. "I know all I need to. We can change thing here, together." 

Daniel cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, long and deep. 

_  
_

Maybe we could learn a little lesson __  
Maybe this'll shine a little light __  
There's no healthy way to mess with __  
The line between the wrong and the right __  
Use the one chance you've been given __  
Cause once you're in the ground and cold __  
It's too late to start livin' _  
You see you can't dig out of the hole_

Daniel reclined on the throne. He could get use to this. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back letting his legs dangled over the arm of the throne. Down on the main floor of the chamber he heard a scuffle and his eyes popped open. Jack kneeled before him. The older man looked filthy and exhausted. The short time he had spent in the mine seemed to have aged him years. Daniel couldn't remember him looking this old before. 

Jack glared up at him. "The man who would be king!" 

Daniel laughed. "Hi, Jack!" Leave it to Jack to get melodramatic. Bounced down the steps to the landing. "Hi Jack!" He looked to the guard and snapped his fingers at them to dismiss them. 

Jack looked up him. "We're losing the battle down there you know," he said, his voice no more than a dry rasp. "Carter's been having Goa'uld flashback. Says, if you keep using the sarcophagus you're going 'dark side' on us." Jack's eyes narrowed. "If you haven't already." His voice choked off in a cough. 

'How sweet,' Daniel thought, 'they were worried about him.' Like they needed to, he had never felt better in his life. 

Daniel looked down at him, clicking his heels together. "Well, don't worry a bit. We're getting out of here tomorrow." 

"What?" The look on Jack's face was priceless. He couldn't bring himself to believe the 'geek' actually saved his butt. 

"I agreed to marry her." The smile on Daniel face twisted in to a sly grin. 

Jack's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You did?" 

Daniel jumped down and grabbed Jack by the shoulders pulling him to his feet. "I said I had to go home to straighten some things out first." Daniel wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulders. "And you guys are going with me." 

"She trusts you?" Jack asked. Daniel tried not to laugh. Good old Jack, suspicious as ever. 

"She," Daniel took a deep breath letting out slowly. "*Loves* me." 

_  
_

Deeper and deeper he's goin' down __  
Driving his future right into the ground __  
He thinks he's closer the further he goes _  
But he's still on the bottom and he can't dig out of the hole_

Daniel stalked back and forth in the tight confines of the lab. The wall seemed like they were pressing in on him. This was ridiculous, they were wasting precious time and a valuable resource. Who was he kidding, he was wasting time. Time he could be spending with her. 

Sam looked up from the rock she was playing with. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor." 

Daniel rubbed his hand together as he thought. "I can't get her out of my head, Sam. I think I made a big mistake." 

Sam's brows furrowed disbelief. "You're not serious?" 

"I am," Daniel said, licking his lips. 

"You have a wife," Sam pointed out. 

Daniel shook his head. "*Had*! *Had* a wife." He looked at her. "Seriously, how long am I supposed to wait? I mean, even if I find," he paused, " Sha're one day." Something he couldn't identify twisted inside him as he said her name. "What're the chances she's ever going to be the same?" He shrugged and kept on pacing. Man, he felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin. He had to do something. 

Sam took a deep breath. "Look, your endorphin level was through the roof when we got back. Now you're coming down off it. The effect of the sarcophagus are like a narcotic, Daniel." 

"Yeah, that make you smarter, stronger, live for hundreds of years, feel great. What's wrong with that?" He glared at her. For a normally smart woman, she had no idea what she was talking about. 

Sam cut him off. "I think it's what makes the Goa'uld as bad as they are." 

"How?" Daniel stared at her incredulously. 

"Who knows?" Sam said with a shrug. "It's Goa'uld technology, Daniel. Maybe it's healing effects alter your brain chemistry. Increase adrenaline," she floundered for a moment, "The hormones that make you more aggressive and irrational. Pyrus probably use to be a decent man." She watched him pace for a moment. "Look at yourself," she said waving her hand toward him. "It's like you need a fix. You've only used it a few times and it's already changed you." 

She just didn't understand. "We have to study it!" 

Sam shook her head. "We can't go back either." 

"Well, I'm going," he said, rubbing he rubbing the back of his knuckled against his palm. 

Sam's eyes narrowed. "She used us to get you addicted." 

That was it. Daniel slammed his fist down on the top of the lab table in front of her sending her equipment scattering. Sam flinched back. Now he knew were this was going, she was jealous. He had finally found somebody and she couldn't stand the idea of him finding some happiness for a change. "You've never really known what love is, have you?" 

Sam bit her upper lip and looked away. "You see, the Daniel I know would have never said that." 

He gave her precious rocks and swipe sending them and the equipment around them crashing to the floor. 'Pitiful,' he thought,' if that's all she can come up with, pitiful.' 

It's hell on the bottom and you can't dig out of the hole 

"You holding that up?" Daniel's head whipped around at the familiar voice. He hadn't even heard the door open. 

'No, please, not Jack. Not now.' Daniel heart skipped a beat and he tried to force his expression to remain neutral. He quickly dropped his head and reached down to grab the soda. He mumbled an apology, and tried to slip past the older man. 

Jack reached out and snagged his shoulder. "Hold on a minute." They faced each other for a moment and Daniel looked down, suddenly very fascinated with the can of soda in his hands. 

"How ya doing?" Jack asked after a moment. 

"Doctor Fraizer says I'm doing better," Daniel said, tracing patterns in condensation on the outside of soda can. 

"Heard you and Carter had a talk," Jack said, leaning against the counter. 

Daniel looked up. "Yeah, she stopped by the infirmary the other day." Daniel bit his lip and looked away. "I said a lot of things I shouldn't have to her." He glanced over at Jack. "I said and did a lot of things I shouldn't have." 

Jack just nodded. A cold feeling settled into Daniel gut. He tried to think of something to say, nothing came. Fluent in twenty-three languages and he couldn't think of blessed thing to say. Suddenly, he felt very, very tired. 

Daniel sank into one of the plastic chairs set around the break room tiny table. He knew he had better get back to the infirmary, but he simply didn't have the energy to move right now. Daniel sat the can of soda on the table and let his hand drop to his lap. 

He looked over at Jack. The other man was just staring blankly at the floor. Daniel had to talk to him, apologize..something. He had tried to talk to him shortly after his breakdown in the storeroom. Tried to apologize, but Jack had told him, they would talk later. Jack had came to see him a couple times after that, but there was a wall up between them now. A wall his own reckless stupidity had built. 

"Why?" 

Daniel's head snapped up at the question. Jack's dark eyes bore into him as if weighing his soul and finding him wanting. "Why what?" Daniel asked hesitantly. 

"Why did do it, use the sarcophagus over and over?" The expression on Jack face never changed, but his eyes cut into Daniel deeper, probing. 

Daniel looked down at the folded hands in his lap. "Every time we talked to Pyrus, he would changed his mind. He kept saying he was going to kill you guys. Shyla would talk him out of it before he could give the order to the guards. She said she would help me get you out, but I had to show her I trusted her. She kept telling me she had given the guard orders to take good care of you." 

"She lied," Jack said softly. 

"I know," Daniel said in a hoarse whisper. He cleared his voice. "I'm sorry." 

"Little late for that." 

Jack's words hit him harder than any fist ever could. He felt naked and alone. All the supports he relied on to survive were gone. Hadn't felt this lost and alone since that debacle of a lecture he had delivered in LA. He felt as alone now as he had out on that sidewalk in the driving rain with every thing his owned in two suitcases at his feet and no place to go. Only that time Catherine Langford had been sitting in a car waiting for him with the opportunity of lifetime. This time there was no such luck, he had blown any chance of that. 

"Now what?" Jack asked finally. 

Daniel shrugged. "I wrote General Hammond a formal apology for my action. I asked if there was any way I could stay on in an advisory capacity." 

Jack nodded. "I see." He crossed his arms tightly across his chest. 

The room dropped back into an uncomfortable silence. Daniel felt bone weary. He started to shiver as he suddenly felt very cold. Every fiber of his body ached now. He let out a sharp gasp as the ache intensified to a burning sensation. 'No, not now,' Daniel closed his eyes trying to block out the sudden need that over took him. The need for it. The want stabbed through him and he gritted his teeth against it. Soon it flared into a full fleaged panic attack. 

Suddenly, he felt a warm hand squeezing his shoulder. "Deep breaths, Daniel. Ride it through." 

Warm tears of pain and embarrassment trickled down Daniel's face. Pain stabbed through him and he felt Jack's grip on his shoulder tighten, grounding him. Frustration mounted inside him, he tried so hard to keep it under control this time. He tried so hard not to let Jack see his weakness again. He could only imagine the discussed the other man must be feeling right now. 

" Slow deep breaths, Danny." A cool hand pressed up against his hot forehead. "It'll let up in a minute or two." 

Daniel tried to pull away, but Jack kept him pinned in place. "For crying out loud, Jackson, just stay put." 

Daniel stopped fighting and leaned into the grip, drawing strength from it. He grateful for it, but ashamed he needed it. Slowly, the pain and want eased and his breathing sloped down into a more normal pace. Jack's grip loosened as Daniel's body started to relax. 

"You ok?" Jack asked, quietly stepping back to look at him. 

Daniel nodded his head numbly. He felt totally spent. He couldn't bring himself to look up at Jack. He had done it again. He had shown Jack just how weak-willed he was. Daniel hung his head and mumbled an apology. Shakily , he pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose. 

Jack let out a frustrate curse. "Daniel, there's a reason they call it adiction. You can't control it. It controls you. I know. I've been there." 

Daniel looked up at him in surprise. 

Jack chuckled bitterly. "Yeah, boy to I know about it." He looked down at the cracked till flooring. "Remember what I told you when we got locked up on that prison planet?" 

Daniel nodded. "Hadanta." 

"Yeah, Hadanta." Jack sighed. "I told you that wasn't the first time I had been in prison. First time had been in Iraq. My plane got downed and I got myself caught. Iraqis got interrogation down to real art." 

Daniel stared at him in disbelief. "Prisoner of War?" 

"Not exactly," Jack shook his head ruefully. "See you got to be at war with somebody before that works. This was a bit of covert op gone wrong. You see the military couldn't acknowledge that I belonged to them cause that would mean they would have to explain just what we were doing in Iraqi space to begin with." 

Daniel didn't know what to say. 

Jack went on without looking up. "Like I said, the Iraqi have got interrogation down to real art. Once they find out that the normal routes of 'questioning' don't work, they go for alternatives." 

Torture, Jack was talking about torture, Daniel realized with a sickening dread. 

"Heron is their number one stand-by. Potent and highly addictive. Doesn't take much to get a guy hooked on it." Jack looked up at him, his eyes drilling into Daniel. "Pretty soon, you can't function with out. You'd sell your soul just to make the pain go away for a little while. When that happens, they own you." 

Daniel hung his head, he knew where this was going. 

"She used you, Daniel. She used us to get to you. In her own sick twisted way, she thought she could keep you by getting you hooked to that sarcophagus." Jack eyes narrowed. "You two didn't-?" Jack let the question hang in the air between them. 

Daniel's head snapped up sharply. "No!" His pale cheeks flushed crimson. "No, that's," his eyes dropped back down to stare at the floor. "That's why she was pushing so hard for me to marry her." 

"Good," Jack said softly. 

Daniel looked back up. "Jack, I'm sorry." 

Jack nodded. "I know, and I know you'd do anything to take it back, but that just ain't going to happen. Sorry doesn't fix anything." 

Daniel nodded slowly. 

"Daniel, we don't want to lose you." 

Daniel looked up in surprise. "Lose me?" he asked tentatively. Hope sprung up in his heart, he pushed it down. They couldn't, not after what he had done. 

Jack looked him squarely in the face. 'You prove to me that you can get yourself pulled back together and your head on straight, I'll talk to Hammond." Jack glanced down at his watch and cursed. "Fraizer is going to have my head, she sent me down here to find you. I was supposed to have you back by now." 

Jack helped Daniel to his feet. Daniel wobbled there for a moment before he got his balance. Jack kept a steadying hand on his elbow. 

"You going to make it?" he asked. 

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, I think I am." 

Jack smiled, the first genuine smile Daniel had seen since all this started, and gave his arm a squeeze. "You are." 

Daniel just nodded and leaned against his friend. He was going to make it afterall. 

_  
_

*fin* 

  


* * *

  


>   
>  Author's Note: _Than_ ks to Londa and Dee for betaing this one for me.  
> 

* * *

>   
>  © July 2004 Showtime and MGM/UA owns Stargate: SG-1 and all there in. I'm just borrowing   
> them for a bit, and I promise to give them right back when I'm done. Well, most   
> of them, I might just keep Jack and Daniel for a bit longer.
> 
> The Hole is sung by Randy Travis and was written by Ewing & Hicks, I'm just borrowing it for background music. 

* * *

  



End file.
